Personal reflection: the importance of staff training and the value of the arts in assisting those with personality disorder
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/mhrj.2010.0734 |
| Date | 14 December 2010 |
| Published date | 14 December 2010 |
| Pages | 23-25 |
| Author | Kath Lovell |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health Review Journal Volume 15 Issue 4 December 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd 23
10.5042/mhrj.2010.0734
Kath Lovell
Managing Director, Emergence, UK
Personal reflection: the
importance of staff training and
the value of the arts in assisting
those with personality disorder
Abstract
The author provides a personal reflection on personality disorder, based on her involvement with the First
National Personality Disorder Congress.
Key words
Personality disorder, First National Personality Disorder Congress, staff training, the arts.
Prior to the First National Personality Disorder
Congress, I saw a couple of quotes on the tube
advertising hoardings. One particularly caught
my attention. It was a quote by Johann Von
Goethe and said ‘Nothing is worth more than this
day’. This resonated deeply for me as today feels
like the culmination not just of a few months’
work to plan the Congress but of perhaps years
of work completed by my professional, service
user and carer colleagues as well as the work we
have done in the footsteps of those who have
gone before us.
This Congress provided us with the
opportunity to highlight progress and good
practice within the field of personality disorder.
It also allowed us to acknowledge the desperate
struggle of those who:
! endeavour to provide personality disorder
services, such as Main House, the Henderson
and others, in this difficult fiscal and political
climate
! face the sheer harsh reality of personality
disorder in the individual war within
themselves
! are inextricably affected by this wretched
disorder, whether they be carers, family and
friends, or professionals.
It is no secret that personality disorder (PD) is
still hugely stigmatised. While the Department
of Health summer roadshows of 2009 reminded
us that PD is everyone’s business, it still remains
the business of a few who fight valiantly for
many. Encouragingly, 2009 has been seen as the
tipping point for PD, with the eagerly awaited
publication of the NICE guidelines for borderline
personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial
personality disorder (ASPD), the commissioning
guidelines and the delivery of the Knowledge
and Understanding Framework (KUF). These
seminal pieces of work represent a variety of
tools to implement and deliver more helpful
services with a truly empathic understanding
of PD. But I would like to make reference to a
slightly different area of work that may go far
in challenging stigma and the ignorance and
misunderstanding that surrounds this maligned
diagnosis.
PD is perhaps the most stigmatised of all
mental health diagnoses. Much has been done
to address the stigma in mental health through
powerful campaigns such as Time to Change
but, incredibly, most stigmatisation comes
from those associated with PD and who work
within the mental health and care systems. Here
we discover a population of care givers who
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